A method for stopping an internal combustion engine is known from German Published Patent Appln. No. 10 2010 040 559 (no prior publication), in which an air flow supplied via an air metering device, in particular a throttle valve of the internal combustion engine, is reduced after a stopping request has been ascertained, and the air flow supplied via the air metering device of the internal combustion engine is increased again if a detected speed of the internal combustion engine falls below a predefinable speed threshold value, an intake cylinder to which the air flow is supplied no longer entering a power stroke after the increase of the supplied air flow.